Consignment
by Bookaholic711
Summary: Rose is always wearing her cousins' clothing; it drives Scorpius mad. RW/SM twoshot.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: All characters, locations, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended with the posting of this story.**

* * *

"Rose, what are you wearing?"

She looked up, rolling her ocean-blue eyes at me. "A shirt."

I dropped my shoulders and put on my 'lame face.' "No way, really?"

She looked away, and my heart dropped a little.

Al looked up at me and smirked, and I wanted to kill him.

It's not easy having your best friends be cousins. Not only do they know absolutely everything about each other, but between the two of them, they know everything about you as well.

Al, for example, was completely of aware of the fact that I've liked Rose for years. He takes every possible opportunity to rub it in my face. It's nothing short of a miracle that Rose hasn't figured it out yet. I'm not entirely sure that I could stand it if she knew.

It's bad enough that my father hasn't talked to me – and I mean really talked to me, obviously he still speaks to me – in years. Ever since I somehow landed myself in Ravenclaw, he's been growing more and more distant. Mum, of course, was pleased as punch that I got placed in her house. She also thought it would help get rid of some of the animosity that I was sure to feel from everyone if I'd been placed in Slytherin.

Since the end of the Wizard War in 1998, my family had been outcast. Their old, pureblood society had crumbled. The remaining Death Eaters were sent to Azkaban; only my father was pardoned. He and my grandmother were given a personal pardon from the Auror department by Harry Potter himself. Whenever I asked my father why, he refused to tell me.

Despite the pardon from Harry Potter, Dad was never quite welcome in the wizarding world after that. He kept mostly to himself, only going out in public if absolutely necessary. On one of those rare jaunts outside, he happened to meet Mum and they got married a few months later. When I was born, I was destined to be a hermit. All of my dad's friends were either dead or in prison; my mum had been popular but hadn't left the grounds in years. I was the product of a society that had crumbled, and I had no place in the world that had sprouted to replace it.

At least, I didn't have any place until I was sorted into Ravenclaw. Being there gave me a new reputation, something else to be known for. It was a new source of life for me, and with it came my two best friends.

It was ironic enough that on the second day of school I had become best friends with Albus Potter. As any lone first year student would be, I was running late to my first class. I was sprinting along the Charms corridor, desperately looking for the Transfiguration room. Let it be noted that I was on the completely wrong side of the castle, yet somehow I ran, literally, headlong into another first year.

After I had picked myself up off the ground, I found myself looking into an incredibly familiar face that I was positive I had never seen before. Extremely messy black hair and green eyes that I knew I had seen before stared back at me, as if suffering from the same problem. We both figured it out at the same time.

"Potter?"

"Malfoy?"

Once the looks of confusion changed to looks of indecision, we had even less of an idea what to do. It was expected that we would be enemies. Our fathers had hated each other at school, even though they had been civil in later years. Finally, Al broke the silence.

"We'd better go," he said, motioning down the hall. "We're horribly late for Transfiguration, and McGonagall already hates me because James blew up something in her classroom at the end of last term."

What he'd said wasn't funny in the least, but for some reason I burst out laughing. Some people are instant friends, but Al and my friendship grew slowly. A constant string of moments like that developed, and we eventually just stopped having time in between them. A long string of awkward silences grew into a friendship, and after a few months we were hanging out all the time.

I hadn't had any friends to fill my time in between moments with Al, but he had more than enough people to fill his time. Not the least of these was his beautiful cousin/best friend, Rose, of course.

Al was extremely protective of Rose, and though she was in my House, I didn't talk to her until the beginning of Third Year. Al always found a way to split his time between us, but when we ended up being the only three Ravenclaws in Ancient Runes, Rose and I were practically forced to interact.

It didn't take me long to figure out that she absolutely amazing. I'd known for years that she was beautiful, and she was obviously smart; she was in Ravenclaw. But she also had an amazing sense of humor and when she wasn't yelling, she was actually very kind.

It also didn't take Al long to figure out that I fancied Rose. He got it within about a week and had thoroughly enjoyed spending the last three years dangling it in front of me. Rose and I had become close and we'd become something of a trio of friends, but we were strictly platonic, at least on her side.

"Yes," I commended. "It's a shirt. But _whose_ shirt is it?"

"What?" Rose asked, draping her legs over the arm of the couch and leaning back against my shoulder. My heart picked itself up from my stomach and started doing sprints in my chest.

"That's not your shirt," I commented. "It's a bloke's shirt."

"Huh," she said, turning another page of her book, telling me clearly that she wasn't paying a speck of attention to me.

"Rose!" I demanded, snapping my fingers in front of her eyes.

She shook her head and put down her book, rolling her head backward to look up at me. "What? Did you say something?"

I rolled my eyes. I was tempted to reach and rumple her hair, but though my hand made the involuntary movement toward her head, my mind would not let it go.

"Whose shirt is that?"

She looked down at her chest and thought for a moment. Finally she shrugged. "James', I think?"

I recoiled slightly and listened to Al's chortle behind me. "You don't know?"

"Nope," she said, popping her lips on the p and returning to her book. "It doesn't really matter to me."

She was always doing that. It seems that she wore clothing that belonged to half of the castle. Her cousins' shirts, Quidditch jerseys, shoes, everything. I could never quite tell what was actually hers and what she had taken from a family member. Even later that night, she was wearing something different.

As we sat down at the Ravenclaw table, Rose leaned back and propped her feet up on the bench, resting an elbow on the table.

"Ah," she said, reached down to rub the arch of her foot. She was wearing a pair of sandals that I didn't think I'd ever seen before. Al looked at them suspiciously.

"Rose," he said tentatively, "Are those Lily's?"

"Hmm?" she responded, still rubbing her feet.

"Those shoes," he said, nodding his head at them. "Are they Lily's?"

She shrugged again and nodded. "Yeah, I guess." After a short pause, she spoke again. "Wait, how did you know?"

Al grimaced and blinked quickly. "I bought them for her," he said, in a poor attempt at a lie.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right. How did you know?"

"Okay, okay," Al conceded. "James and I may have jinx- ah, stolen… them last summer. It's really not a big deal."

I held back a chuckle as Rose narrowed her eyes. "You _jinxed_ your own _little sister's_ shoes?"

Al grimaced. "No. We stole them. And hid them. Big difference, Rosie."

"Oh yeah," she said, turning back to her dinner. "Sure you did."

The next day, Lily Potter had the shoes back and Al had a bruise on his shoulder.

* * *

She was babbling. I wasn't particularly paying attention; I was enraptured in watching her speak. The way her lips brushed against each other as she talked was nothing short of fascinating.

The story continued, but suddenly a phrase stood out to me. "And then he pointed out that I was wearing Al's shirt and…" her voice faded back out, but suddenly I was back in reality.

_It drives me bloody mad that she does that_, I thought, shaking my head to clear it. Then the reality of the situation came crashing down. Rose was not babbling; she was crying. Tears streaked down her face, leaving little streaks of eyeliner in their wake. Her hands shook as she tried to make some sort of gesture, but she wasn't talking anymore. She seemed at loss for words and a heavy sob shook her chest.

"Hey," I said, scrambling up to my feet to stand in front of her. "Rose, calm down. It's okay." I grabbed her hands and pulled her up to her feet. "It'll be okay," I repeated, wrapping my arms around her back.

I'd hugged Rose before, obviously, but never while she was upset, never while she was crying. It was a totally different feeling, and I wasn't necessarily comfortable with it. We were getting too close, close to the point where I would lose control, but I couldn't back out now.

She leaned into me for a second before pulling away. "No it _won't_, Scorpius." Rose wiped a tear from her eye and pulled away from my embrace entirely. "Merlin, were you even _listening_ to me?"

I opened my mouth to speak, and then closed it. For minutes I stood there looking like some sort of demented fish before Rose just stomped away, leaving me drowning in air.

It took me almost a week to figure out what had been going on with Rose. It was Lily Potter – the same little Lily Potter who had had her shoes jinxed – who finally told me.

"Her boyfriend broke up with her," Lily said from across the table in the library. She wasn't even looking at me as she said it. "How could you not know that?"

I was still stuck in the _She had a boyfriend?_ moment and couldn't find the strength to respond. After getting the cold shoulder from Rose since that day, I'd sought out almost every member of her immediate family, begging them to tell me what had happen. They all refused, though I was positive that they all knew. Lily, who I knew would tell me, had eluded me until I finally cornered her in the library.

"Scorpius, are you still alive?" Lily asked. I shook my head back into the moment and found Lily looking at me like I was crazy. "Seriously," she said. "Do you want to go to the hospital wing or something? You look dizzy."

"No, no," I said, shaking my head again. "But just," I took a seat across from the Fourth Year, "what happened?"

She shrugged. "He broke up with her. All for the best, I say. She shouldn't have gone out with him in the first place."

"But…" I struggled around, wondering which question to even ask first. "Who? _Why?_"

Lily's eyes widened. "_WHO?_" she asked in a whisper-shout. "Good grief, Scorpius, don't you know her at all?"

I didn't respond to that, just went with a simple, "Who?"

Lily tossed her long red hair over her shoulder and looked down at her notebook. "Milo Davies," she said, like it was no big deal.

"_Milo Davies?_"

"Shh!" she reprimanded. "Do you _want_ to get kicked out?"

"Why in _hell_ was she going out with Milo Davies?" I said a little more quietly.

"Like I said," Lily sounded frustrated, "she shouldn't have been."

"And he just broke up with her?"

Lily rolled her eyes and gave me a "why won't you just go away?" look. "He dumped her because of something stupid. But he was cruel about it. Accused her of incest in front of the entire Entrance Hall."

"_WHAT?_" Something moved behind the bookshelves to my left, and Lily and I looked over, hoping that it wasn't Madame Pince. Finally, the person walked out the end, revealing a lost little first year whom neither of us had the energy to help.

We turned away from the poor sap and immediately picked the conversation back up.

"He did _what?_"

"He accused her of incest," she repeated, "because she's always wearing our cousins' shirts. She was wearing Al's that day. Said it was something you only did with your boyfriend."

I stared at Lily open-mouthed for a long moment, then sat back in my chair and crossed my arms. "Hot damn."

Lily nodded, but clearly wasn't finished with me yet. "As for _you_," she continued, "she's mad at you were apparently too busy staring at Glenna Brown behind her to care about what happened."

My mind felt like an outdated magic carpet trying to keep up with Al's Firebolt 500. Glenna Brown? Who in hell cared about Glenna Brown? What did she have to do with _anything_?

Lily tensed her neck and shook her head in at me. "Well?" she demanded. "Aren't you going to say something? Defend yourself, perhaps?"

"Glenna _Brown_?" I managed to spit out. "I wasn't… I barely even know her!"

"Well, Rose thought you were staring at something," Lily gave me a look that clearly said, 'boys!'

"I was staring at _her_!" I blurted out before I even had a chance to think about it. I shoved my hands over my mouth. "Oh no," I whispered, "Oh no, I actually said that out loud, didn't I?"

Lily smirked. "Yeah. But it didn't mean anything until you acted."

"Oh no," I said. "You will not tell her. No way in hell."

"I don't know, Scorpius," she trailed off with a devilish smile, "this might be exactly what she needs to hear."

I opened my mouth to protest, but Lily – who had obviously been packing up her books while I was scrambling to keep up with the conversation – picked up her bag and left before I could say another word.

Somehow after that, Rose wasn't mad at me anymore.

* * *

_Hey there beloved readers! Just a couple of things..._

_1) This twoshot does not stand alone. It is part of a writing project entitled Project PULL, started by yours truly. For more information/updates, visit my profile. _

_2) I appreciate reviews that tell me why you liked it/didn't like it/wish I would go die in a hole. But we've had this discussion before. _

_3) There is no number three. Lists just look a lot more official if they have three points instead of two. _

_Over and out,  
__-Bookaholic711_


	2. Chapter 2

****All characters, locations, etc. belong to J. K. Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended with the posting of this story.****

* * *

"Rose?"

She looked up at me from across the table, her eyes twinkling as she smiled.

"Yeah, Scorpius?"

"Nothing," I said, quickly changing my mind and looking back down at my history essay. "Forget it."

On my side, Al fake-coughed into his hand, his voice sounding suspiciously like "pansy." I reached over to slap my hand against his back, hitting him far too hard to be helping him.

"All right there, Al?" I asked, glaring at him as Rose returned to her work.

"I'll live," he responded. "Maybe I'd be a bit better if I went to talk to Glenna Brown, eh?"

Rose rolled her eyes. "What on earth do you see in her, Al?"

"Ah," Al said, putting on his trademark smirk. "The question is not what _I_ see in her, but what Scorpius does."

I flicked my head over to look at him, giving him a glare that clearly said, "Leave. Now."

"I digress," Al conceded, getting to his feet. "See you later." And then the ponce actually went over to Glenna Brown. What an idiot.

I turned back to Rose and found her glaring at Glenna. Her eyes tightened as I watched.

"You know he doesn't actually fancy her."

"I know," Rose sighed, dipping her quill in her ink.

"Neither do I." The words came without my consent, and the moment they were out, I wanted them back. Rose's quill froze over her paper, a single drop of ink dripping onto the perfectly written essay.

"Right," she said. "Right…" her voice trailed off, and she seemed to be remembering something. After a moment, she put her quill down and rested her chin in her hands. Even though she was looking almost directly at me, I knew she wasn't seeing me.

My mind drifted to the question I was going to ask her. Was it possible? Al must have set it up, but even that didn't make sense. Ever since Milo had broken up with her, Rose had stopped wearing other people's clothes. She didn't even borrow Lily's makeup anymore. It had become an extremely sensitive topic, and I really didn't want to bring it up, but I was dying to know.

"So, have you two finished chatting yet?"

I didn't bother to look up; Rose didn't respond. Even though our non-actions should have given Al the information he so craved, he wouldn't bloody leave us alone.

"Well? Have you two had a nice chat about it? Maybe a little snuggle?"

Again, he got no response. However, it's own way, that lack of a response was a response in itself.

"Albus," a flirty, dead-annoying voice came from behind us. "Aren't you going to come back over? Grab your bag."

"Glenna," Rose greeted her classmate.

"Oh Rosie!" Glenna gushed. "Your shirt, wherever did you get it? I thought you said that you and Milo were over? But gosh, that _must_ be his! Oh, you'll have to tell me all the details tonight!"

I could practically hear her smile, not to mention that she exclaimed everything in this fake, "Pay attention to me" voice. It served its purpose; everyone in the immediate area was staring at her. Rose looked exhausted just from listening to Glenna.

"Come on, Albie!" Glenna's fakeness was overpowering.

Albus made a face to me as he got up and Glenna immediately latched onto his arm. She dragged him across the Common Room.

"Albie?" Rose asked incredulously. "_ALBIE?_"

I closed my eyes and ran my hand over my face. "Apparently so."

Silence fell between us, but Rose didn't pick up her quill again. My mind flickered back to my question. Asking it would be risky, but Glenna had already brought it up…

"Rose?"

There was no smile on her face as she looked up this time. "What?"

I sighed heavily, half expecting her to kill me. "Your shirt..."

She cut me off. "I don't know, okay? I found it in my drawers and I thought it was mine. I don't know what Glenna was talking about!" Her voice grew hysterical. "I don't do that anymore; you know that! God, Scorpius, can't you just leave it alone?"

Rose took a deep breath and picked up her quill. She began to write with a level of ferocity that I had never seen before.

"Hey," I said. Instinct took over, and somehow my hand found its way onto her wrist. "Hey. I was only asking because that shirt…"

She stared at my hand on hers, tense, waiting.

"It's mine," I finished. My brain told me to let go of her wrist, to lean back and give her time to react, but my hand wouldn't comply.

"It's yours?" Rose asked, as if she couldn't quite comprehend it.

"Yeah," my voice sounded a lot braver than I felt. "Al must've snuck it into your drawers as a practical joke or something."

She didn't say anything. I couldn't help but think about how much time we spent sitting in awkward silence. Was it really so hard for me to talk to her? We'd only been best friends for three years, for God's sake!

Sighing, I took my hand off of her wrist. I pulled the book I'd been before the whole mess began in front of me, but I didn't read. There was only one thought racing through my mind, over and over.

_What happens next?_

Minutes passed. I turned the pages of my book periodically, but, honestly, I didn't even know the title anymore, much less what I was reading about. Rose's quill remained untouched, but I didn't look up at her. The tension was suffocating.

I found myself staring at her hands. They were the only part of her I could see while still "reading." She had beautiful hands. Her fingers were long and graceful, flowing out of her palms with a gentle curve. A dark blue—almost the same colour as her eyes—covered her nails, which were short and rounded. Her right hand tapped against the table, breaking the silence; her left sat next to her quill, the palm nearly black with ink.

A leftie. Her first Muggle primary school had tried to squash it out of her. After that, her mother had transferred her to another school, saying that some of the most famous people in history were left-handed.

Rose shifted in her chair, moving her dominant hand out of view as it came up to touch her hair. Involuntarily, my eyes followed it. To my surprise, her eyes were looking directly at me.

"Scorpius…" The single word—my name—had started off strong, but by the end, her eyes had drifted down the table and her voice was soft.

"Yeah, Rose?"

"Can I… do you… I…" she started about a thousand sentences, but she didn't seem able to finish any of them.

"The shirt?" I asked.

"Do you want it back?" she finally asked, closing her eyes quickly, but I saw the moisture building up inside.

I blinked. Hadn't been expecting that. "Do you want to give it back?"

Rose gulped, eyes still shut. "No."

Nodded. Swallowed. Tried to pick up the courage to speak. Tried infinitely harder not to hope.

"Okay, then. Keep it."

That awkward silence fell again. I cursed myself for even responding. Should have just nodded.

"What… What Milo said, though," Rose continued. "About this being only something you do with boyfriends."

I forced out a chuckle, trying to make myself sound far braver than I was. "Guess that means we're technically dating, yeah?"

"Yeah," Rose repeated. "Yeah."

A thought popped into my head. At first I wasn't going to say it. The more I thought about it, the worse of an idea it was. _Don't do it, Scorpius. Really. Don't._

_I would rather look back and wonder what I was thinking than look back and wonder what could have been_.

The words weren't mine. They were Al's, something he'd said a long time ago. Why they came to me then, I have no idea. I hadn't thought about that phrase since he'd first said it, but suddenly it seemed to apply to me. And before I'd even really thought about it, the words came pouring out of my mouth.

"So, since we're technically dating, does that mean that I get to kiss you?"

Rose looked up, stunned. "I, um…" she fell silent for a second, contemplating. "Yeah."

My eyes grew wide. "Yes?"

She smiled, and the smile reached up to her eyes. "Yes."

My body reacted on instinct. I leaned in across the table; my eyes closed. We were so close; I could feel her body heat just centimeters away.

It was really happening. In a matter of second our lips would touch and…

"For the love of _Merlin_."

Al.

"I can't even bloody believe it."

He didn't sound excited, like he'd just found his best friend about to kiss the girl said best friend had fancied for years. He sounded majorly t-ed off.

Rose sighed, hearing the annoyance in his voice as well. She turned her head to look at him, and I opened my eyes.

Lipstick was smeared on his cheek; his unusually unruly black hair looked like something had died in it.

"What on earth happened to you?" The question spilled out, my tone slightly annoyed.

"Glenna. Stupid girl asked me to Hogsmede and then answered yes before I could even blink. She suddenly seems to think we're going out, and so she attacked me."

"Fab," I heard Rose whisper.

"Anyway, it's horribly depressing, so drop whatever you're doing. We're going to the kitchens."

Rose rolled her eyes. "Why would we do that?"

"I need a burrito," Al said, as if it were a perfectly legitimate craving.

"A burrito?" I asked. "As in, tortilla, meat, beans… that kind of burrito?

"_Yes_, Scorpius," Al exaggerated. "I know what a burrito is, and I need one."

"Fine," I said, getting up. Life was too short to waste my time pondering Al's sudden need for Mexican food. "Let's go.

Al was out the door before Rose had even stood up. Somehow, without thinking about it, my hand found hers, and I didn't drop it as we followed her cousin.

"By the way, Rose," Al spoke from in front of us, not even bothering to look back as he pressed on towards his burrito. "You're wearing Scorpius' shirt."

Rose smirked, squeezing my hand. "Oh really now?"

* * *

_AN: We have many things to discuss today before we part, so excuse the slightly long author's note. _

_1.) Thanks to xXIceShadowXx and To Kill a Mockingjay for agreeing to beta this. It's always nice when I email you guys a story at 7:40 A.M. and you've both responded by noon. :)_

_2.) This two-shot does not stand alone! It is part of a writing project called Project PULL, started by yours truly and made awesome by the power of the Internet. Thank you so much to all the PULL participants. You guys are the reason that I want to get up in the morning. _

_3.) Okay, so xXIceShadowXx (Icelyn) read this (obviously) and told me that the greater FanFiction will not thinking of it as an ending. I quite like it like this, but alas, I am only the author. It isn't really my opinion that matters. So it's going to you guys. If you want there to be another chapter, say so in your review. I'm assume, by now, that you all know my feelings on reviews, so I won't repeat them. _

_4.) Also, about Icelyn. As I was writing this, I was talking to her and trying to think of an ending. All I could think about was burritos. Thanks, Icelyn, for making me listen to my muse and write a story including burritos. Even though said story is set in Scotland. _

_Thanks for reading, everyone!  
-Bookaholic711 _


	3. Chapter 3

**_**All characters, locations, etc. belong to J.K. Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended in the posting of this story.**_**

* * *

"I am going to kill her."

Al must have had some kind of radar that alerted him every time I got close to Rose. She and I were sitting in the library, and I was just reaching for her hand when he sat down at the table, looking thoroughly depressed.

"Really?" Rose asked. "I'd reckoned you were starting to like her."

"_Like _her? As in, _fancy_ her?" Al scoffed, brushing his chalkboard hair out of his eyes. "As if."

"Then chuck her," I said. "And leave us alone," I muttered under my breath.

"Don't think I didn't hear that, Scorpius," Al said, throwing his backpack on the floor. "You should be more sympathetic. I'm very depressed. Not all of us just had our wildest dreams come true."

"Some of us don't set such high standards."

"That was harsh."

"No harsher than your wildest dream being my death."

"I wasn't joking about that."

"Course not. And I wasn't joking about my wildest dream being an E in History."

"Well, why wouldn't you be?"

"Right."

"Exactly."

"Yes."

"Okay."

"Of cour–"

"That is _it!_" Rose stood up suddenly, slamming her hands down on the table. "I can't sit here for another second and listen to you two _agree_ with each other. You are making me _mad_. Either shut up or take your little agreement somewhere else."

"Little agreement, Rosie?" Al said, turning to look at his cousin, running his fingers through his hair. "Really?"

"Yes," she replied firmly. "I repeat: shut up or go away."

"Scorpius?" Al turned to me. "Sidebar?"

I closed my eyes and scratched my forehead. "What?"

"Sidebar. It's a legal term."

I shook my head. "More confusing."

"It's a side conversation, stupid."

"A what?"

Al rolled his eyes. "I want you to come snog be behind that bookcase, Scorpius. Come now."

I looked at the table, listening to Rose giggle across from me. "No thanks. That doesn't sound very enjoyable."

At this point, Al—who I had obviously managed to frustrate quite well—grabbed my arm and literally dragged my unwilling form behind the bookcase.

"All right, all right," I conceded, leaning against a bookshelf. "I forfeit. Now, what's this sidebar rubbish about?"

"You." He said, tone hard. "Rose. What the bloody hell is up with that?"

"Honestly?" I replied. "Not much. You keep coming by every time something gets close to happening."

"You think that's coincidence, Scorpius?" The harshness of Al's voice reached up to his eyes, and I realized that he was glaring at me.

"You're angry," I started. It was not a question.

"I'm worried," he corrected. "I'm worried about what would happen if… if something did happen."

I raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

He sighed, sinking down the bookcase to the floor and putting his head in his hands. "I never thought that this would actually happen, Scorpius. I thought that you would get over it eventually. Move on to other girls. I never thought that Rose would…"

He never thought Rose would what? I realize that I fancy her? Start fancying me back? Be happy?

"What's to be afraid of, Albus?"

Al dropped his head onto his arms. I never called him Albus. He knew what it meant. He could feel the anger radiating me. He knew me well enough to notice that my eyes had narrowed and my smile had disappeared.

"I… it's not you I'm worried about. It's Rose."

"Rose? Why? You don't trust me?" My voice became even sharper, and my hands curled into fists by my sides.

"No! It's not _me_. I'm fine with it!" he said frantically, obviously trying to avoid a fight.

"You're not making any sense. Stop backtracking and say what you mean, Al."

"I mean," Al looked up at me. "That my family isn't exactly terribly fond of you."

His… family? Rose's family?

"But, I go over to your place during every holiday! Your parents take me in like a bloody third son!"

"_My_ parents do, yeah."

Silence fell as I finally understood what he was trying to say. Rose's parents. He was worried that if something ever happened between Rose and I, her parents would be angry. More than angry.

"Rose's parents, on the other hand," Al continued, prompting me.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," I said quickly. I sunk down the bookcase and sat on the ground opposite him. "Hell."

"I just… I don't mean that you have to, you know, _stop_, or anything but…"

Al trailed off. He didn't know what he meant by it; that was obvious. But there was enough to deduce that he thought there would be trouble if Rose and I ever starting going out. And trouble was the last thing we needed.

"Don't worry about it, Scorpius," Al said, trying again. "It's not… I mean, it's just something to think about."

I nodded. Something to think about. Something that I would probably end up dwelling over and staying up at night splitting hair about. Something that was most likely going to come between Rose and I.

Al shifted around to kneel in front of me. "You should talk to her about it."

I shook out of my reverie. "What?"

"Rose. You should talk to her about this. About all of it. Get her input and come up with a decision from there."

"You think I should ask her?"

Al hesitated. "Yeah. Yeah I do. And I think that you should bring all of this up and talk it over, and then decide what you're going to do from there."

Taking a deep breath, I pushed up to my feet. "Yeah. Yeah, okay."

Al clasped my hand in a handshake/high five. "Good man, Scorpius."

We walked back around the bookcase and sat down at the table that Rose and I had been at before. Al pulled out his books, dropping them on the table in front of him. He then proceeded to ignore them in favor of a game of solitaire with an Exploding Snap deck.

I was just getting into my Transfiguration mode when the deck first went off.

"Al!" Rose whispered aggressively. "We're in a _library_, you moron."

"Really, Rosie?" Al said at a normal volume. "I hadn't noticed."

"Pince is gong to kick us out, prat."

"How tragic."

Rose narrowed her eyes. "Look Al," she said, her voice rising as she spoke, "I don't know what your problem is, but cry me a river, build me a bridge and _get over it_." Somehow, Rose was on her feet, her hands on top of her books, leaning over the table and glaring at Al, who was staring at her in shock.

Before Al got the chance to speak, another voice popped in.

"Miss Weasley! This is a _library_, not the Quidditch pitch. Out!"

All three of turned to see Madame Pince shooting daggers at Rose, surely a first. Rose blinked a couple of times, then picked up her books and swept out of the library, leaving her quill and bag behind. Pince stormed away, looking thoroughly pleased with herself.

Sighing, I bent down and picked up Rose's things.

"I'd better go get her," I said to no one in particular. Al didn't respond. He had opened his Herbology book for possibly the first time.

Rose must have been moving pretty quickly, because I didn't find her in the hallway outside of the library. I wandered around the corridors, checking her regular route back to the Common Room. She wasn't in the Great Hall, no one had seen her in the Trophy Room. Finally, I decided just to head back to the Common Room, figuring she'd come back when she needed her stuff. But as I walked past some empty classrooms on the third floor, I heard a quill scratching.

Pushing open a door, I found Rose sitting at the teacher's desk of a classroom that couldn't have been used in fifty years. She had used chalk to draw a flower on the board, and she seemed to be writing fiercely on a piece of scrap parchment.

"Rose?" I asked timidly. "Do you want me to go?"

She looked up, clearly noticing me for the first time. She jumped, then shoved the parchment into her lap.

"No," she said. "It's fine. I'm fine. I mean… it's okay. Whatever. You can stay if you want. Or not. It doesn't…"

"Rose?"

She took a deep breath, pushing the parchment onto the floor and standing up.

"I'm fine."

"I brought you your stuff."

A tiny smile appeared on her face. "Thanks."

Silence settled over us, but it was heavy, awkward. It wasn't supposed to be like this. Weren't we supposed to be in love? Hadn't we decided on that when we'd started holding hands? Sharing inside jokes? Being more than friends?

"What were you writing?"

Rose still seemed flustered. She pushed a chunk of hair out of her eyes and stared at the ground. "Nothing. Just a letter."

"To who?"

The smile widened a little. "To whom, Scorpius."

I didn't respond, waiting for her to answer my question. Finally, she looked up at me, swallowed, and took a step closer.

"To you."

I grinned involuntarily. "And?"

"I…"

I raised a hand to stop her, and she shut her mouth quickly and willingly. My hand settled on her shoulder. I paused to take a quick breath, find my courage, but I didn't need to. I'd known what I wanted to say for years; there was no need for a mental pep talk.

"We're supposed to hate each other, Rose. Our families do. It's the expectation."

Rose looked up at me, clearly confused by the start.

"But you and I, we don't really live up to expectations, do we, Rose? We go above and beyond. We exceed, do things differently. The line between hatred and love is very fine, and I was pushed over it.

I want us to be together, Rose. A couple. For real. I don't care what your dad says, or mine, I'll take the heat. Because you're worth all of that."

She took a deep breath, looking down away from me and taking a step back, but leaning into my hand at the same time. Despite what I had just done, I wasn't afraid. I knew her answer, and she delivered it, not just as I had expected, but exceeding my expectations.

"Screw our families," she said. "We only get one life, one chance, and we need to be happy while we can."

"So…" I needed something to make it official. A straight answer. But I suppose, to give me that, Rose needed a straight question. "Will you be my girlfriend?"

She needed, her hair falling into her face again. "Yes. Of course I will."

"Even though our families will probably kill us?"

She rolled her eyes. In a fluid motion, Rose stepped forward pulling her body flush against mine and wrapping her arms around my neck. Tilting her head just a little to the side, she whispered in my ear. "Forget them. All the family I need is right here."

* * *

_AN: Update for the newly revamped Project PULL. Check out the archive for other stories. _

_Thanks for reading guys. Drop me a line and let me know what you thought (but only if you're actually going to say something). _


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